India is ranked as the 4th most vacation deprived country globally, just after Spain (68%), UAE (68%); Malaysia (67%) and South-Korea (64%), says an annual survey of vacation habits by Expedia. Findings that further corroborate this are 63% Indians take fewer days of the vacation days they get, 40% don’t use all vacation days as work schedule does not allow for vacation or don’t have enough staff to cover and 32% are not able to take vacation days due to personal schedule.
“Vacations play a critical role in creating work-life balance as it reenergizes people to be more focused at work (95% of Indians agree in the survey). According to Expedia’s Vacation Deprivation Survey 2016, 47% of Indians are ready to give up social media and television while 30% would give up Internet and 27% can give up contact with their besties for a week, all for one additional day of vacation” said Manmeet Ahluwalia, Marketing Head, Expedia in India.
“The Indians are evolving, from a tourist to a traveler. Some of the findings that highlight this evolution are that they find happiness by – exploring somewhere new (77%, #2 globally); eating what they want (56%, #1 globally); meeting new people (54%, #1 globally); and getting a lot of ‘likes’ or comments on social media posts (20%, #1 globally); use technology to research information about the destination they are visiting (68%, #3) or to book activities or reservations while travelling (57%, #1),” he added.
